Mapping Culture-Specific and Creative Metaphors in Lu Xun's Short Stories by L1 and L2 English Translators

Abstract

The study compared English translations of metaphors in Lu Xun’s short stories translated by L1 and L2 translators, adopting a corpus-assisted method. The patterns of the translation strategies were analyzed within the framework of the relevance theory. We found that paraphrasing as a rendering strategy was used more frequently in translating culture-specific metaphors than culture-universal ones, and more recurrently in translating conventional metaphors than creative ones. It suggested that more cognitive effort was required to translate these conventional, culture-specific metaphors, typical barriers in literary translation, to achieve optimal relevance. We also found that L1 translators were more target-oriented in rendering the metaphors than L2 translators, indicating an impact of translation direction on the translators’ performance. Finally, the present research testified the interplay of the two routes (i.e., direct translation and indirect translation) in literary translation and demonstrated that the interaction between the two routes was regulated by the principle of relevance and modulated by such essential factors as the source input and the translation direction.